Top-chord construction for gondola cars



E. E. SCHLESINGER. TOP cHoRD CONSTRUCTION FOR GoNDLA GARS.

`APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5, 1919..

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STTES when EDGAR E. SCHLESINGER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 WALTER P. MURPHY',

. 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

TOP-CHORD `CONS'llIIEtUCTION FOR GONDOLA CARS.

Application'led February 5, 1919. Serial No. 275,088.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, EDGAR E. SCHLESINGER, a citizen of the United IStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of illinois, have invented certain new and useful limprovements in rTop-Chord Constructions for Gondola Cars, oit which the followino is a specification.

ll/ly invent-ion relates to a gondola car having steel side or end walls, and the primary lobject of the invention is to provide a novel top chord construction for a gondola car ot ,this type which will have very considerable strength and rigidity in proportionto the weigth oit metal involved. rlhe top chord of a gondola car is, in effect, one of the trame members of the car and must, therefore, be strong and rigid enough to take care oi the stresses transmitted to it from the end or side wall sheets, as the case may be. Furthermore, cars of this type Jfrequently carry rails or other articles which are loaded by pushing them over the ends or sides or the car. lt sometimes happens that girders. or other long or heavy structures, rest in transit on the end or side walls of the car. l" or these reasons the top chords ot a gondola car should be able to withstand heavy crushing stresses and be so arranged as to protect the upper edges of the wall sheets and keep the walls of the car 'from collapsing under `vertical pressure. My invention provides a top chord construction which satisfactorily meets these requirements.

rllhe invention is illustrated, in al preferred embodiment, in the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a fragmentary end elevation of the superstructure of a gondola car having the top chord construction of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the corner of the car showing the means lemployed for making the connection between the end and side top chords. v

Fig. 3 is a section on line B--S of Fig. 2.

Like characters of reference designate like parts inthe several `figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawing, 10 designates the end wall sheet of a car which is preferably formed with rigidiying corrugations 11, and 12 an adjacent side sheet. The end sheet 10 is formed with a flange 13 which overlaps. and is secured to the edge of the side sheet. lrlhe upper edge of end sheet 1() is bent over to form a fla-nge 14 which may extend either outwardly of the car or inwardly, as desired. have shown this flange in the drawing as outwardly projecting. Secured to the flange is a bulb angle 15, the bulb 16 ot which lies against the bend 17 between the upright part of the end sheet and its flange. rl`he vertical flange 18 of the angle projects downwardly and the angle is secured to flange 14 by rivets 19. `The side walls of the car may be similarly constructed, in case both side and end walls are or' steel construction. 1n Fig. 2 the side wall is shown as provided with a top chord member 15a which is connected to the top chord ot' the end wall by a gusset plate 20. t

kBy this arrangement the wall sheet and the top chord member together provide a channel-shaped element or beam at the upper edge of the wall, the neutral axis ot which extends substantially centrally of the channel. The weight of metal in the bulb of the angle, together with the flange of the wall sheet, about balance the flange 18 of the angle so that the construction gives maximum strength, considering the top of the wall as a beam, with a minimum weight of metal. Moreover, the heavy bulb of the angle is so arranged as to protect the upper edge 0I the wall sheet as against injury Yfrom articles which may be loaded over or supported upon the wall of the car.

I claim:

In a gondola car,tlie combination of a metal wall sheet, the upper edge of which is bent over to form a substantially horizontal flange, and a top chord member arranged to provide, with the end wall, a channel shaped beam and consisting of a bulb angle secured to said flange with the bulb arranged at the bend ot the sheet and its other flange projecting downwardly so that the neutral axis of the beam extends substantially centrally of the channel.

EDGAR E. SCHLESINGER. 

